announcement

When you think of printers, you probably think of the big, heavy boxes on or under your desks. For quite a while now there have been 3D printers capable of printing any 3D object you can dream up in CAD, for example. The new technology has come a long way from its infancy only a few years ago. These days you can print everything from replicar dinosaur bones, to a Stradivarius imitation, to ultra-light bicycles, and now even whole cars. Students from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have succeeded to print an entire urban solar electric car.

If you've been biting your nails for the past few months in hopes that LEGO would give the Doctor Who set its approval, we have some good news for you. LEGO announced yesterday that the project has been reviewed and approved, and will be officially arriving in the relatively near future. The project first surfaced a few months ago, seeking supporters on LEGO Ideas. It hit the required 10,000 supporters, and after a long wait has finally been given the thumbs-up.

Google’s management structure is undergoing more movement, as Senior Vice President of Knowledge Alan Eustace is retiring. According to sources, Eustace is not leaving for another job, but is just plain giving up the day-to-day grind for retirement. His departure marks another major figurehead leaving he company, or otherwise moving to make room for Google’s new management structure. Larry Page has quickly moved Sundar Pichai up the ranks, with a majority of Google’s core service chiefs reporting to him rather than CEO Larry Page.

Amazon has introduced its new Kindle Textbook Creator, a tool that lets users create digital textbooks and related materials that include educational elements, not the least of which are flashcards. Students will then be able to access this content on the same devices other Kindle content can be accessed on, including their Fire tablets. The tool is currently in a beta stage, and as with the Kindle Direct Publishing platform, those interested are able to directly upload their content for others to enjoy.

Late last year, AT&T revealed that it would be buying lusacell, a Mexican carrier. Now that the acquisition is complete, it has announced some benefits this will bring its subscribers, namely free unlimited calling from the United States to Mexico -- any number in the nation, including cell phones. This falls under AT&T's World Connect Value international calling package. Those already under the plan will automatically be rolled into the new offering, while those who don't have it can subscribe if they're a post-paid customer.

If something isn't broken, don't fix it. Or thusly the saying goes. That doesn't mean one would be ill advised to refine whatever has already proven long effective, and that seems to be the mindset behind ZTE's recent decision to change it logo. The new version is hardly different than the previous version -- it is still a simple "ZTE" logo mark, after all -- but the subtle refinements do lend an element of modern flavor to the otherwise minimalist brand mark.

Hulu might not be adding new shows and movies at the same clipped rate as Netflix, but the video streaming service certainly isn't slouching when it comes to providing new content. Earlier this month, Hulu revealed it will be adding several TV series from Discovery network stations on January 1, and last night it followed that up with an additional announcement: a new agreement with Disney-ABC that'll result in streamable episodes of several additional television shows, including Resurrection and Alias.

More people are ditching cable and turning to video streaming services, according to Nielsen, and following the trend is an increase in the number of shows -- including original content -- available through places like Netflix. For its part, Hulu will be adding some popular series from Discovery Network with the turn of the New Year, including the popular fishing series Deadliest Catch and MythBusters.

Flickr's Wall Art printing service, first announced in October, has expanded quickly in its short time, growing from only allowing U.S. users to print their own photographs to including all users regardless of where they're located. Now the photo hosting service has announced its latest update for Wall Art, one that some users had hoped would come about: the ability to print (nearly) any photo available on the site, no longer limiting users to their own library of content.

Netflix, taking a moment from its seemingly perpetual content revelations, has announced that it'll be getting a big expansion early next year, moving into Australia and New Zealand in March 2015. This follows the company's launch in France back in September -- a place where it hasn't entirely been welcomed -- and will likely in the same way include a mixture of locally-relevant content and the shows that span its global viewership. The video streaming service is remaining tight-lipped about pricing, however, saying it'll announce that sometime in the future.